OPLISMENUS, a genus of plants of the order Panicacem O. Burmanni, Rom. and Sch., grows in Bengal, as also does O. colonus, Kth., called in Bengali, Shama; cattle are very fond of it. Enor mous islets of living water-grasses, as Oplismenus stagninus and other plants, float on the Megna river. O. lanceolatus, Kth., and O. strictus, Sch., are also Bengal plants. Oplismenus stagninus is cultivated in gardens at Kotah.
Oplismenus frumentaccus, Roth.
Panicum frumentaceum, Roth. Damra-shama, . . BENG. Samaka, . . . . HIND. Shama, . . . . „ I Sanwak, . . . „ Several varieties of this grass are cultivated in British India ; cattle are fond of it, and the seeds are wholesome and nourishing, and constitute an article of diet amongst the poorer people ; in a good soil, it yields about fifty fold. In the I'anjab it is a cultivated cereal, uncommon out in the plains except Cis-Sutlej, and common in places in the eastern part only of the Panjab Himalaya, but its grain is considered heating, and it is one of the poorer of the millets.—Ilooker ; Genl. Med. Top.; Rork; ; Stewart.
OPOBALSA3f, Balsam= Egyptiacurn.
Akuyila-semun-i-rumi, Opobalsamo, . . Ir.
Balisan, . . . EGYPT. Bali. verum album, LAT. Balm of Gilead, . . Esti Judaicum de Mecca, „ Balm of Mecca, . „ FEW&
Balsamicr do In Moque, Fa.
Balm of Mecca, is procured from the Balsamo dendron Gileadense, a middle-sized tree growing in Arabia, also from the 13alsainum Berryanurn. There is but little of the true balm of Gilead which reaches Britain. The same may be said of another of the terebinthino resins, lcdellitun, which is obtained from India and front Africa. The best Opobalsainurn is bbtained front the greenish liquor found in the kernel of the llalsanium Berryanum. An inferior quality of Opobasum is obtained by expression front the fruit of Amyris Gdeadenaui when the fruit is at maturity. The carpobalsamum of the ancients was from the fruit of the ArayrIs Gileadense. It is a liquid gum-resin, obtained from the Amyris Gileadensis, a tree found in Arabia, Abyssinia, and Syria. It is first turbid and white ; of a pungent smell resembling turpen tine, but sweeter ; and of a bitter, acrid, astringent taste. When old, it becomes thin, limpid, of a greenish hue, then of a golden yellow, and at length of the colour of honey. It is chiefly used as a cosmetic by the Turkish ladies.-111`Culloch.